This is a blog by a young conservative collegiate political enthusiast. My main interests are current events, politics, philosophy, faith, ideology and debating all of the above through use of formal logic, research, statistics, history...and a sturdy dose of humor. I also discuss life, liberty, and the pursuits of happiness.
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Thursday, March 01, 2007

Coins, theft and chewing gum

I've got three questions for you.

Question 1: What do you do when you find a coin and/or a dollar bill on the ground?

Question 2: What do you do when you're about to give a major presentation for a speech class, and your memory stick containing all of your visual aids is stolen?

Question 3: What do you do when you set your computer charger down, and pick it up to find the heat of the electricity has melted someone's dried chewing gum onto the converter?

On Question 1: It's an interesting little moral quandary, finding money on the ground. Once I found a five-dollar bill in front of the grocery checkout. Not knowing what to do, and not wanting to keep it, I handed it to the cashier and explained that someone must have dropped it. I can't be sure, but as I walked away, I think she pocketed it. I found a quarter lying in the parking lot the other day, and left it lying there. But I began thinking; is it stealing if you pick up a coin? Likely as not, someone else will come along and grab it anyway, and it's extremely doubtful that the owner will come looking for it. So what do you do? Well, a day or two ago, I found a dime on the floor and went ahead and pocketed it. I guess that's one paralyzing moral puzzle solved. But I'm still undecided on coins you see at the bottom of the urinals. To dive or not to dive, that is the question...

On Question 2: Yes, it really happened. I had a 1 GB Cruzer Micro USB memory stick, about an inch long, with all of my video presentations, including my video on Hollywood sword fights, a PowerPoint presentation, and two small video clips of my brother and myself in a short choreographed fight (using what my pathetic and now-extinct little detractors would call a "baton"). What to do? Answer: rush out to the car and grab your backup memory stick. Ha! Foiled YOU, you memory-stick-stealing creep!

I don't think the speech went very well, and while I can't blame the thief for it, I still can't help but wonder what jerk of a student would steal a memory stick, when he himself would be furious to have the added anxiety of losing his entire class presentation minutes before the presentation is being given? Once, on the way out of math class, I called after one student that he forgot his iPod. He thanked me profusely, saying he would have been so mad if he'd lost the thing. He then proceeded to relate to me a story where he found someone's iPod, pocketed it, and sold it to his roommate for $40! I ask again, what kind of jerk of a student is that?

On Question 3: A paper towel soaked in paint thinner soon removed the gum from the charger, but once again, I'm left to contemplate and marvel at the gross inconsideration perpetrated by classmates against their fellow students.